At the end of 2018, the health surcharge was £200 a year. A spouse who applied for permission to remain in the UK paid £1,033 in processing fees for two and a half years’ permission, plus a £500 health surcharge. That surcharge doubled in early-2019 and rose to £624 a year by October. By the end of 2020, with the headline fee staying the same, the total cost of that application went from £1,533 to £2,593 in two years.
The money from the Immigration Health Surcharge is given to the NHS, but the Home Office makes a profit on processing fees. A migrant applying for ILR (indefinite leave to remain) must pay £2,389. The cost of processing an ILR application is actually just £243 —the fee is ten times higher than the actual cost. A Tier 2 work visa in a “shortage occupation” has an actual administrative cost of £127 but the charge is £928.
The application fee published for registering a child as a British citizen is over £1,000 but costs just £372 to administer. The High Court ruled in 2020 that the Home Office failed to assess the best interests of children when setting this fee, which remains in place.
Employers who recruit foreign workers based outside the EU are charged £1,000 per worker every year. (There is a lower charge of £364 per worker per year for small businesses and universities) The charge applies only to new recruits, not existing staff, but will kick in for new EU arrivals at the start of 2021.
Scarsdale Immigration Solicitors
For advice from Immigration solicitors Manchester, immigration solicitors Rochdale and immigration solicitors Oldham call Scarsdale Oldham Solicitors, Scarsdale Manchester Solicitors and Scarsdale Rochdale Solicitors on 0161 660 6050.
